Geography

Dr Malcolm Campbell is helping to develop a ’smarter and more resilient city’ through a pilot project that will help people with a severe respiratory disease to manage their medication and health, depending on their geographic location and by analysing relevant environmental factors.

Overview

Geography is an exciting and distinctive discipline at the interface between Science and Arts. Its focus is on putting various types of knowledge together to find innovative solutions to problems faced by society such as climate change, poverty, sustainability, health, and inequality. We aim to provide courses and learning that will enable you to make a difference in your chosen career path after university.

Studying Geography will allow you to take an informed and analytical view of our changing world, and of your place in it. The relationship between people and their environment is a key geographical theme, as is the way in which this relationship can be made more sustainable for the future.

This puts Geography at the core of many important current debates. For example, geographers are able to examine the issue of climate change holistically by looking at both the physical factors that affect the problem and also the human responses to the challenges created.

UC is rated in the top 150 universities in the world for Geography (QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2019).

Our world-class research in Geography and related fields attracts students from all over the world, with PhD and master's students coming from across Asia, Africa, the Pacific, and Aotearoa New Zealand.

We have excellent supervisors and postgraduate courses are small and often discussion based.

Fieldwork is an integral part of many courses. UC operates climate stations in Kā Tiritiri-o-te-moana Southern Alps and elsewhere in Te Waipounamu South Island, and utilises the University's field stations at Cass and Kawatiri Westport.

Graduate Diploma in Arts and Graduate Diploma in Science specialising in Geography

To complete a GradDipArts or GradDipSc with a Geography focus, students will need to complete at least 60 points in 100-300 level GEOG courses throughout their degree. In total 90 points must be at 300-level in the diploma from Geography and/or other Arts or Science courses.

Postgraduate Certificate in Arts and Postgraduate Certificate in Science majoring in Geography

For the PGCertSc, students need to complete at least 45 points in GEOG 400-level courses for the major. In total 60 points must be completed for the PGCertSc from Geography and/or other Science courses.

Part I of both the MA and MSc in Geography is made up of 120 points from 400-level GEOG and GISC courses. With approval, up to 60 points in the degrees may be chosen from other Arts or Science subjects.

Recent graduates have found work all over Aotearoa New Zealand and the world, from Tāmaki-makaurau Auckland to Melbourne, California to Antarctica. Many have found careers in the public service, the tourism industry, private companies dealing with geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS), the police, local authorities, and in education.

The Resource Management Act has created a lively market for geographers in consultancy and in regional and local government. Those who gain technical expertise in areas such as GIS and remote sensing are also in demand from both the public and private sectors. In addition, research and policy positions in central, regional, and local government are popular.

Some graduates find work overseas for Manatū Aorere | Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, development agencies, and the United Nations, or in positions that are particularly people-focused, like the union movement, teaching, or personnel, where communication skills are critical.